So, I was riding in the rain tonight, at about 9 pm. It's raining, dark, and sorta cold. and it's about a mile and a half away from my house. So I'm minding my own business just riding along at about 40 mph, and my bike suddenly loses power, backfires, and then completely goes dead (headlights and all) while rolling to a stop. So I pulled the bike onto the sidewalk.. it would start up and idle fine in neutral but the electricity would always cut off once I reached the speed of 15 mph or so.. it didn't start up no more after a couple times of that. So I walked the bastard home in the rain. I took a rest every 1 - block or so, and I got thirsty so I drank from my motorcycle coolant reservoir so its all good. (just kidding I had water in the passenger seat). Did you know even 340 pounds can be a lot of weight to push up a hill? Anyways it took about an hour but i got a great exercise, I was drenched in sweat and rain when I got home.
Since tomorrow is Saturday I'll lift the tank and get to the bottom of this. I suspect its an electric problem.
This SRAD is such a brat.. it keeps breaking down! but at least it gives me something to do during these rainy Seattle days.
williamhbonney, I'm riding my bike fairing less at the moment with a lot taken off, but yeah it probably still weighs a lot more than 340 pounds. I'm just glad that I don't ride a Harley or my last bike (bandit 600) which weighed close to 500 pounds.
Last week I relocated and simplified the wire harness on this bike while installing an APE tensioner. I remember disconnecting the negative battery terminal before I started the wiring work, but I don't remember connecting it up before I put the seat back on. The battery was the first place I checked this morning, sure enough the cable was hanging free just barely touching the anode. So I bolted the cable down and took a ride around the block, and it didn't break down.
Man, I wonder how I could make such a dumb mistake. One thing for sure, is that it sucks to be broken down in the road.. it's a hard situation to think rationally or diagnose a problem. Two minutes, an allen wrench and a screw driver would have got the bike back in the game, instead of having me push it all the way home.
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